hey cubs fans, i have a question for you.... let's whip out our vintage Murph WHAT-IF BELLS and ding 'em up and say "what if mike trout were available via trade or free agency" -- what would you give up for him in terms of players or cash?

i think he gave the angels a sweetheart extension @ 6yrs/144.5mil back in mid-2014, which eats up his arb years and 3 FA years to sign him up through 2020 when he'll hit the market as a 29 year old. so presumably trades would be now/ish along the lines of "how far would you be willing to go in order to get the best player in baseball?" and FA talk would be for an age-29 mike trout who we assume is still mike trout (i.e. no career-impacting major injury or major PED bust/deflation that effectively brauns him for a few years or longer) but he just happens to be pushing 30 instead of 25.

i know this is total pie in the sky stuff and i can get slagged off for not being realistic here, but i'm genuinely wondering just how far cubs fans would go in terms of trading away #Corre players in order to go get the best damn player in baseball. i'm interested to find out if people would be willing to trade a crazy package of something like arrieta and schwarber (and the blackmail material against arte moreno) if it meant that you could get mike trout in a cubs uniform for at least 4-5 years, and then you can turn around and extend him or whatever.... for the sake of conjecture let's say that you get trout and he's a cub for life at that point.... just how far would you go?

OR, do you guys think that in rizzo/bryant/schwarber you have core hitters who aren't trout but are good enough to provide like 66-75% of his raw production and therefore giving up a bigtime asset like arrieta along with a guy who can possibly max out to hang with trout statistically is far too much to trade for just 1 guy when the cubs are stacked and loaded with talent a-gogo?

personally i think i'd consider selling arrieta high if i could get a legitimate all-time-great like trout (basically mickey mantle 2: electric bugaloo in an era when they dont have sprinklers in the OF to tear up his knee) if i think if there's a chance jake regresses into a mid-high 2s / low 3s ERA guy. it'd be a less drastic version of what the mets did with R.A. Dickey (moving him ASAP after his CY young and bringing back syndergaard and d'arnaud in that trade) then i'd seriously look into it.... but what about you?

food for thought / fuel for diarrhea --- LIGHT EM UP CUBS FANS!

_________________

What's your poison tonight, sini?

_________________

How well can Mike Trout navigate an exercycle?

_________________
You know me like that.

negra modelo, but that's besides the point... i know it's easy to slag me off as being high for bringing up a mike trout trade/FA thing in the cubs section, but basically it's just a hypothetical exercise to see how far cubs fans would be willing to go in order to bring in some top top TOP quality players to the northside.

you saw the marlins give stanton 13yrs/325mil with an opt out after 6/107, so then i ask what would you lot go and pay trout on the open market at age 29 if he were there for you? or hell, do you believe in the #CoreFour or whatever so much that you think this team already has its top-5/ish-in-baseball superstar/s and that you can spend that $$$ on other areas to supplant what you've already got?

so yeah dude, i know that being 100% serious like LET'S GO GET TROUT GUYS is indeed the kind of territory where it's easy to slag me off as a drunken druggie or something.... but in the spirit of what phil jackson once called "mental masturbation" (sports talk radio) let's all pull down our pants and whip em out and have a circlejerk..... what would you guys be willing to do in order to get mike trout via trade or FA if he was available?

_________________

I'd give quite a bit to get Trout. A LOT. Whatever they'd ask for, to some extent. Cubs are DESPERATE for a OF, especially a CF......Not sure what it would take.

But I wasn't saying you were a high drunken druggie because of the OP. Just curious, my man. Spirit of the board right now and all.

_________________

yeah i recently finished off the 12er of newcastle that had been sitting around for a minute, so it's on to the 12er of negra modelo, which is a good enough beer and all but it still makes me wonder why i didnt just get 2 cases of newcastle cuz that stuff is a nice solid starting point for me, IMO.

with the holidays coming up and family to and fro i'm gonna have to waddle up the street to binny's within the next week or two to get the necessary ingredients to make some white russians. i've had pretty good luck with kahlua especial (higher proof), vanilla-twinged vodka (whether it's smirnoff or absolut matters naught, that little extra twinge of vanilla flavoring makes up for it not being ketel-one or grey goose, tho i suppose you could just run the cheap vodka through a britta/filter and PRESTO! you've got K1/GG =) and then french vanilla carnation coffee creamer. those core ingredients make a pretty damn solid caucasian, and i've found that a stuff russkie is a nice holiday/ish drink, especially since you have less liquid running through than beer, which is always more amenable to ratcheted up holiday over/eating cuz that's where higher alcoholic content saves you some calories through lesser volume/s.

do you have a go-to mixed drink, or are you just a beer-n-shot guy who might do the occasional jack-n-coke when someone else buys you one?

---

also, if i were the cubs i'd do arrieta and rizzo for trout in a heartbeat. ideally i'd love to keep the babes (bryant/schwarber) around with trout, but if i had to give up one of them.... man, that's a tough call but i still think that even tho there's higher bust potential i'd wanna keep schwarber around to have that lineup where you could flip flop LH schwarber and RH trout in the lineup....that'd be utterly delectable.

_________________

I'm essentially just a "beer guy', not too many shots anymore. Maybe if I'm at home with the right friends and I know I'm not traveling anywhere. Kids will get you over your craving for shots in a hurry.
Never Jack/Coke. Honestly my go-to "mixed" is a bloody mary. I can make you a killer bloody.

Lots of beer. Love beer. Although I do appreciate a good white russian now and then, especially in the winter.

_________________

The Cubs dont have the bullets to get Mike Trout.

They have the bullets to get anyone.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

It'll take Schwarber...

_________________

Trout has been MVP-level for 4 consecutive seasons (his only seasons in the league) and is only 4 months older than Kris Bryant. You think the Angels want to trade that security for a bunch of strikeout prone players who've never played more than 1 season? Because that's really what the Cubs have, aside from Rizzo who plays 1B and isn't some young star-in-the-making anymore.

Realistically here's what would maybe get it done.

Angels:
Bryant
Schwarber
Russell or Rizzo
+
any two of these five:
Soler
Baez
Castro
McKinney
Contreras

Cubs:
Trout
Pujols

---

The only way to make it work for the Angels is by getting rid of Pujols albatross contract. Nothing coming back their way in terms of players is the slam dunk Trout is. Bryant has only been in the league 1 year and his K rate is high. Schwarber is a DH. Russell is an unknown quality offensively and Rizzo plays a non-premium position. The last two (whoever they are) are just lottery tickets. This is how players get viewed when you enter the arena of "Trading for Mike Trout."

I'm not even sure the Angels accept that trade, but they would probably at least listen.

Arrieta
Bryant
Scwarber
Rizzo
Russell/Baez/Castro

That major league talent could land the Cubs anyone in baseball. The Angels would say yes in a heartbeat.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Jake Arrieta already pitched in the AL, did not go well.

Franchise player. It's not gonna happen.

_________________

There is absolutely no reason to trade a player like that unless he's a year from free agency and you know that you can't resign him.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!